Table 3.
Blood lipid levels of school-going urban Ghanaian children aged 9–15 years, classified by weight status
| Blood lipid indicators | Normal-weight (n = 409) |
Overweight/obese1 (n = 393) |
p-value2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean ± SD | Mean ± SD | ||
| Total cholesterol (mg/dl) | |||
| Boys | 140.3 ± 56.6 | 160.4 ± 72.1 | 0.063 |
| Girls | 148.3 ± 47.1 | 149.2 ± 57.2 | |
| Total | 145.3 ± 50.9 | 152.8 ± 62.6 | |
| LDL3 cholesterol (mg/dl) | |||
| Boys | 72.9 ± 39.8 | 91.7 ± 49.5a | < 0.001 |
| Girls | 76.9 ± 31.6 | 81.8 ± 36.9 | |
| Total | 75.4 ± 34.9 | 85.1 ± 41.7 | |
| HDL4 cholesterol (mg/dl) | |||
| Boys | 53.9 ± 19.6 | 52.2 ± 21.7 | 0.001 |
| Girls | 56.8 ± 18.4 | 50.8 ± 18.8 | |
| Total | 55.7 ± 18.9 | 51.3 ± 19.8 | |
| Total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio | |||
| Boys | 2.8 ± 0.9 | 3.3 ± 1.0 | < 0.001 |
| Girls | 2.8 ± 0.8 | 3.1 ± 1.0 | |
| Total | 2.8 ± 0.9 | 3.2 ± 1.0 | |
| Triglycerides (mg/dl) | |||
| Boys | 67.9 ± 43.8 | 82.3 ± 58.3 | 0.009 |
| Girls | 65.7 ± 50.1 | 73.9 ± 61.8 | |
| Total | 66.5 ± 47.8 | 76.6 ± 60.8 | |
1Defined as BMI-for-age Z-score > 1
2Comparison of blood lipids across normal-weight and overweight/obese children using Student’s t-Test for Independent Samples
3Low-density lipoprotein, 4High-density lipoprotein
aThe difference between boys and girls in the same group was significant (p-value = 0.0453)